New Recipe Book… More Ground Turkey!

Like Zee, I’ve been buying new cookbooks, hoping for some quick and easy recipes that fit with the healthy eating plan. Somehow, though, I always pick meals that require lots of chopping and/or a sous chef! I apparently do not have the fastest chop skills in the world. Wonderful segue into this screenshot of Chop, don’t you think?

Anyway… Here is the first recipe I made from the new cookbook I bought at my Weight Watchers meeting. Usually, I find that the WW cookbooks have weird ingredients that I would never use. The Essential WW Freestyle Cookbook, however, is pretty good in that regard and the recipes are easy to follow. I did have to buy five-spice powder, but it was good and so I’m sure that we’ll use it again.

FIVE-SPICE TURKEY WITH MUSHROOMS

4 teaspoons oil
1 onion , thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed through a press
1 pound ground skinless turkey breast
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms quartered
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 ½ cups lightly packed fresh pea shoots or watercress
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add turkey, five-spice powder, salt, and pepper. Cook, breaking turkey apart with wooden spoon, until turkey is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Transfer turkey to medium bowl.
2. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in same skillet. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 4 minutes. Add zucchini slices and cook, stirring constantly, until just crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in turkey mixture, pea shoots, water, and soy sauce; cook, stirring constantly, just until pea shoots are wilted, about 2 minutes.
3. Divide evenly among 4 shallow bowls; sprinkle with cilantro.

Serves 4. Per serving: 1 point. Or 212 cal, 7 g total fat, 1 g sat fat, 792 mg sod, 8 g total carb, 4 g sugar, 2 g fib, 31 g prot

I added extra garlic and I think I would like it with more of the five-spice powder next time. I used pea shoots, as watercress is almost impossible to find here, and I threw the cilantro into the skillet to stir it up. We really enjoyed this dish. (And by the way, pea shoots are really good in Guylty’s ubiquitous lunch wrap!)

Unfortunately, I got so caught up in the prep and the eating that I forgot to take a picture! So, as a poor substitute, here is a picture of the picture in the book! Hope you all have a great week!